Abstract
FOUR of Prof. MacBride’s statements, in NATURE of Dec. 6, call for comment. “…no one has ever seen ‘genes’ in a chromosome.” Genes cannot generally be seen, because in most organisms they are too small. In Drosophila more than 100, probably more than 1000, are contained in a chromosome about 1 μ in length. They are therefore invisible for exactly the same reasons as molecules. But the evidence for their existence is, to many minds, as cogent. Where the chromosomes are larger, as in monocotyledons, competent microscopists—for example, Belling, in NATURE of Jan. 11, 1930.—claim to have seen genes. In a case where I (among others) postulated the absence of a gene in certain races of Matthiola, my friend Mr. Philp has since detected the absence of a trabant, which is normally present, from a certain chromosome. I shall be glad to show this visible gene to Prof. MacBride.
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HALDANE, J. Embryology and Evolution. Nature 126, 956 (1930). https://doi.org/10.1038/126956a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/126956a0
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